Former Indianapolis mayor: Ukraine crisis could exacerbate inflation

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An energy policy advocate and former Indianapolis mayor on Friday said Hoosiers should prepare financially for economic damage from the war in Ukraine.

Former Mayor Greg Ballard has focused on energy policy since he left office in 2015. He said although the United States imports very little oil from Russia, Europe is a major Russian oil market, so supply shocks there are reverberating throughout the global oil market. Russia produced 11% of the world’s oil in 2020 and is the third-largest petroleum producer, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Oil this week broke the $100 per barrel mark for the first time since June of 2014.

Ballard said rising oil prices as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could drive up prices. He said that’s because energy costs are factored into the prices you pay for goods.

“Everything that we do in America and around the world requires energy. Everything,” he said. “And that price is in the product of everything that we do. It’s in the grocery store. It’s buying cars, it’s just absolutely in everything.”

Ballard said oil shocks from the war in Ukraine further demonstrate the need for countries to invest in local sources of energy. He said the United States should invest in ways to eliminate its dependence on oil-producing countries and help other countries do the same. Ballard said this could even include a return to fossil fuels in the short term, though eliminating the need for oil entirely should remain a long-term goal.

Ballard is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel whose service included the Gulf War and a stint at U.S. European Command. He said he’s mystified by the way Russian troops have approached their attack into Ukraine. He said, during a military offensive, the attacker needs to strike fast and hard to keep the defender off balance.

“It just looks odd that Russia has so much firepower and they’re not using it. They’re trying to do artillery fire and try to wear them down that way,” he said. “You might be able to, but it doesn’t look like (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy is going to give up because you explode some buildings and unfortunately lose some civilian casualties, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to give up just for that.”

Ballard’s full interview will air on Sunday morning’s “All INdiana Politics.”